RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events 17 year old Trayvon Martin shot by Neighborhood watch guy Zimmerman

Correct.

Unarmed kids should not be murdered. Call me old-fashioned.

He might as well be hung.

Correct.

From the way I've understood the 'stand your ground' law, it's not an automatic out for killing someone. There will now be a pretrial hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to substantiate the claim of self-defense. The cops may have misapplied the law, but that's bad police work and not necessarily a bad law.

At least you're now being more honest about your prejudice in this case. You were never waiting for justice. You've just been waiting for a conviction.

What part of the law did the police not follow when you say they "misapplied"?

By John R. Lott Jr.
April 13, 2012


The charges brought against George Zimmerman sure look like prosecutorial misconduct. The case as put forward by the prosecutor in the “affidavit of probable cause” is startlingly weak. As a former chief economist at the U.S. Sentencing Commission, I have read a number of such affidavits, and cannot recall one lacking so much relevant information.

The prosecutor has most likely deliberately overcharged, hoping to intimidate Zimmerman into agreeing to a plea bargain. If this case goes to trial, Zimmerman will almost definitely be found “not guilty” on the charge of second-degree murder.

The prosecutor wasn’t required to go to the grand jury for the indictment, but the fact that she didn’t in such a high-profile case is troubling. Everyone knows how easy it is for a prosecutor to get a grand jury to indict, because only the prosecutor presents evidence. A grand-jury indictment would have provided political cover; that charges were brought without one means that the prosecutor was worried that a grand jury would not give her the indictment.

The affidavit consists of six main points:

● Zimmerman was upset about all “the break-ins in his neighborhood” and expressed anger at how criminals “always get away.”

● According to a discussion with Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend, who said that she was talking to Martin before the attack, Zimmerman followed Martin. He did so despite the police operator’s saying “we don’t need you to do that.”

● Zimmerman “confronted Martin and a struggle ensued,” though no evidence is cited on this point.

● Trayvon Martin’s mother identified the voice crying for help on a 9-1-1 call as her son’s.

● Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest, and this is confirmed by both Zimmerman’s statement and ballistics tests.

● Martin died from the gunshot wound.

Note some of the points that are missing. The prosecution doesn’t claim Zimmerman had racial animus against blacks. There was no “f***ing coons” on the police call. Some extremely relevant information from the police report is completely excluded: There is no mention of the grass and wetness found on the back of Zimmerman’s shirt, the gashes on the back of his head, the bloody nose, or the other witnesses who saw Martin on top of Zimmerman, beating him, before the shot was fired. There is not even an attempt to say that the police report was in error; instead the affidavit just disregards it.

Even if everything in the affidavit is correct, it does not even begin to deal with the most crucial question: Who attacked whom? Even if it is true that “Zimmerman confronted Martin and a struggle ensued,” there may have been no wrongdoing on Zimmerman’s part. “Confronted” does not mean “provoked” or “assaulted.” It could simply mean that Zimmerman followed Martin and asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood. Surely Zimmerman had the right to investigate a strange person in his neighborhood. The police operator’s advice that “we don’t need you to do that” was merely suggestive, not an order to stop. Indeed, the police had no authority to give Zimmerman such an order.

Now take the charge of “second degree” murder. There is no way that the affidavit justifies such a charge. In Florida, second-degree murder is defined as “the unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual.” But if Zimmerman was being beaten, there was no “depraved mind regardless of human life,” and the act “imminently dangerous to another” would be justified as self-defense.

Angela Corey, the special prosecutor who filed charges, claimed multiple times on Wednesday that the prosecutors “are seekers of the truth.” In our legal system, grand juries can sometimes provide a check on prosecutors who indict based on political pressure or the desire to seek the limelight. It is no surprise that Corey avoided the grand jury.

No way is [the prosecutor] not going to go through this with many wanting her head on a stick.

I just caught some of the rerun of the arrest announcement by the special prosecutor...I hope I'm wrong but everything about her demeanor was 'shameless camera whore,' and not 'ethical public servant.'

It does seem like he's taking sides. Even the most minor of head wounds can bleed heavy. Nor does it prove that Zimmerman killed Martin in purely in self defense.

It's a question of prosecutorial ethics.

Why do you think this is a Law School Blog Website? Common sense and actual ethical morality can always trump any lawyer technicality in the most basic and honest ways. It's simple: Ethical Morality is Truth, and Lawyers Lie. See?

You're again attacking G-man in a cowardly way --repeatedly-- when you know he has you on ignore and can't read what you say.

Beyond that, your view of events is that what you believe prejudicially out of liberal self-righteousness is "truth".

Despite that the evidence contradicts your preconceived biases

and appears to justify Zimmerman's acquittal.

Since the state fails to make a case beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman did not kill Trayvon Martin in self-defense.

And the simple statement of the facts --i.e., reality-- you distortedly spin as a "lawyer trick".

"Liberal clown" pretty well covers it.

3. ‘Inconsistencies’ in Zimmerman’s story raised police suspicions
Testimony at the hearing suggested that Sanford police – who released Zimmerman without charges before a special prosecutor filed charges against him last week – didn’t fully believe Zimmerman's story, noting” inconsistencies” in his account of how he was attacked by Trayvon.

When Zimmerman was on the stand, Mr. De La Rionda asked him about whether, when police asked him about inconsistencies in his story, he began to say that he didn’t remember exactly what happened. The judge cut off that line of questioning, saying it veered into evidence that should be introduced at trial.

But during his turn on the stand, Gilbreath drew attention to Zimmerman's assertion to police that Trayvon was at one point running around Zimmerman's car. Gilbreath questioned why that should make Zimmerman fear for his life. “[Zimmerman] was so scared that he still got out of the car and chased Mr. Martin,” Gilbreath said skeptically.

Under questioning from O’Mara, Gilbreath also described new details that Zimmerman told police, including the claim that Trayvon allegedly tried to suffocate Zimmerman and grab for his gun before Zimmerman “scooted away” and shot Trayvon at close range.

described new details that Zimmerman told police, including the claim that Trayvon allegedly tried to suffocate Zimmerman and grab for his gun before Zimmerman “scooted away” and shot Trayvon at close range.

Yeah I can understand why the cops were not buying his story.

Hispanic? I thought he was white?

I think a lot of the trouble with this case is the media rushing to get a story out before learning any facts.

Only Zimmerman was there, and you cannot trust his story alone for the simple fact he is a human being who grew up on Earth.

There was about a month after Zimmerman killed Martin before the media rushed to get the story.

For the first 10 days after Martin's death, the story was covered by only the Florida media. On March 8, 2012, CBS News, acting on a tip it received from the network's local bureau in Atlanta, Georgia, obtained an exclusive interview with Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton that was broadcast on CBS This Morning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/business/media/for-martins-case-a-long-route-to-national-attention.html?_r=1



So, really, this was local only for almost two weeks. Plenty of time for the facts to come to light. Trayvon Martin was an unarmed African-American child, and Zimerman is an ex-cop with a history of spousal abuse and racial discrimination that stalked this boy, even after the cops told him not to, and then murdered him. It's easy to understand, really. The facts are all there.